Posters

Clarity through simplification

Jacki Whisenant, Jan Huisken (Morgridge Institute for Research, Madison, United States of America; University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, United States of America)

Visual communication is paramount in scientific research, and clarity is essential. If the visuals contain so much information that the viewer is lost in detail, their effectiveness is diminished. Scott McCloud’s core principle of comic theory - Amplification through Simplification - is key for developing scientific visualizations. In this regard, while the use of photography is helpful for examining specific examples, illustration can be used for communicating broader concepts. Most importantly, drawings used as generalized representations can apply to a spectrum of subjects rather than a particular individual. In microscopy, specimen drawings summarizing and averaging data from many unique specimens to show an idealized representative of the most common encountered form of the species. With the advent of digital imaging, accurate representations of individual specimens have replaced more general and informative drawings, such as the famous images by Santiago Ramón y Cajal. Here we demonstrate how important drawings are for creating a more universal reference image for weevils.